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A great day for whales thanks to Australia

Japan has been ordered to immediately end the killing of whales in the Antarctic after a UN court backed Australia's claim that the slaughter was unlawful. WARNING: Some people may find some of the images distressing.

Japan will respect an International Court of Justice order to end its annual Antarctic whale hunt despite "deep disappointment" with the landmark decision, it said on Monday.

The Court decided in favour of Australia, ruling that Japan's whale hunt in the Southern Ocean was not scientific and it should cease the program "with immediate effect".

"As a state that respects the rule of law ... and as a responsible member of the global community, Japan will abide by the decision of the court," Japan's chief negotiator Koji Tsuruoka said outside the United Nations' top court in The Hague.

Japanese's Chief Negotiator Koji Tsuruoka, right, shakes hand with General Counsel of Australia Bill Campbell, left, before the International Court of Justice delivers its verdict in The Hague, Netherlands. Photo: AP Photo

With Prime Minister Tony Abbott due to visit Japan next week, Attorney-General George Brandis was quick to calm any threat of a diplomatic storm that might hurt Australia and Japan's relationship following the court's decision.

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Senator Brandis stressed that the two nations had been in dispute on just the single issue of whaling.

He said that it was a testament to the strength of the relationship that the two countries could be in dispute on this single issue and that the court's ruling made clear the Japanese whaling program could not be permitted under international whaling conventions.

'Today will go down in history as a great day for whales' ... conservationist Pete Bethune. Photo: AFP Photo

"The effect of the court is to stop the existing program," he said.

Senator Brandis said he was "sure" the ruling would not affect free trade negotiations.

ANU international law professor Don Rothwell said the result was even more clear cut than Australia might have hoped.

A whale breeches off the coast of Surfers Paradise in Queensland Photo: Sahlan Hayes

But he said the clause on scientific whaling in the International Whaling Commission's treaty still existed, and the court had given some guidance on how it could be interpreted.

"It would be premature to say it is the final nail in the coffin for Antarctic whaling," Professor Rothwell told Fairfax Media. "We really won't know until Japan announces whether it has plans for special permit whaling later this year."

Former Labor environment minister Peter Garrett welcomed the ruling.

"This is the end of so-called 'scientific' whaling, surely," Garrett told Fairfax Media. "It's an incredible result. The comprehensive nature of it, and the way the court has taken on board our arguments."

The case was commenced at Mr Garrett's urging in 2010 by the Rudd Government, after conservation groups gained a series of opinions from legal panels in support of taking action.

Greens leader Christine Milne said the Court's ruling was great news and congratulated whaling activist group Sea Shepherd for "bravely taking on whalers".

She added that Environment Minister Greg Hunt was "all talk in Opposition but failed to send customs boat and pretended aerial surveillance was ok".

Sea Shepherd activists' three ships returned to port in New Zealand and Australia earlier this month after pursuing the whaling fleet in the Ross Sea, where the two sides clashed repeatedly.

The group's founder, Paul Watson, said he hoped that the "gentle giants of the sea" would now be left in peace.

New Zealander Pete Bethune, a former member of Sea Shepherd who spent months in a Japanese prison for boarding one of Japan's whaling boats after it collided with his vessel, said he was "absolutely thrilled" with the result.

"Today will go down in history as a great day for whales, for conservation and for justice.

Greenpeace, which ran a long direct action campaign against whaling before Sea Shepherd, said Japan should now send its whaling ships to the scrap heap.

"It's high time this industry was consigned to the history books," said Greenpeace oceans campaigner Nathaniel Pelle.